Accused pimp's lawyer: Lead cop on case should step down

Thursday

Nov 8, 2012 at 5:25 PMNov 8, 2012 at 5:44 PM

KENNEBUNK – Daniel Lilley, the attorney for the Thomaston man charged with 57 counts related to an alleged prostitution operation, is calling for the police officer investigating his client to step down from the case because she was once accused of sexual contact and abuse of a minor.

By Jennifer Feals and Laura Dolce

KENNEBUNK – Daniel Lilley, the attorney for the Thomaston man charged with 57 counts related to an alleged prostitution operation, is calling for the police officer investigating his client to step down from the case because she was once accused of sexual contact and abuse of a minor.

In the letter, sent via e-mail Thursday morning to Al Searles, the chairman of the Kennebunk Board of Selectmen as well as members of the media, Lilley said, “this is the kind of information” his client Mark Strong, 57, was investigating when he was “singularly and suddenly charged with promoting prostitution.”

Lilley claims that charge was based solely on an investigation by Kennebunk Police Officer Audra Presby, who he says was accused in 2010 of sexual contact and abuse of her fiancÚ, Nick Higgins', then 5-year-old son. Lilley attached to the letter what he calls “disturbing court documents,” filed in Skowhegan District Court, by the boy's mother, in 2011.

The allegations were contained in court documents seeking a protection order filed by Mellissa Higgins, ex-wife of former Kennebunk Lt. Nick Higgins, who is currently engaged to Presby.

Mellissa Higgins later dismissed her request to keep Presby away from the boy following an investigation Higgins said was conducted by police, DHHS and Spurwink Services. Presby was never charged.

Now living in Ripley, Maine, Mellissa Higgins went through a contentious divorce nearly three years ago after her ex-husband stepped down from his post after falling in love with Presby.

At the time, Nick Higgins told the York County Coast Star, “I have been going through a divorce and found myself engaging in dialog of a personal nature with a subordinate employee for emotional support so I decided to do what is right and step aside, resigning my position.”

Kennebunk Police Chief Bob MacKenzie said at the time because Higgins stepped down, an internal affairs investigation was not launched, in accordance with department policy.

Allegations of sexual contact

Mellissa Higgins said the allegation against Presby came from her then-5-year-old son during a July 29, 2011 appointment with a Bangor therapist who, as a mandated reporter, contacted the Department of Health and Human Services. She said the therapist then advised her to take both her son and his twin sister to Spurwink Services, a non-profit mental health organization that serves both children and adults.

Mellissa Higgins said she was also advised to file for an order of protection, which she did on Aug. 1, 2011.

“I did what I was told to do,” she said Thursday. “As a mother, what would you do?”Mellissa Higgins said she also hired a guardian ad litem to represent both children, and met with an officer from the State Police who was assigned to investigate the case, as well as representatives from Spurwink.

The guardian ad litem determined the children were “safe and fine” with Presby, Mellissa Higgins said. She said Spurwink investigators told her they believed the contact Presby had with the child fell within the normal range of caregiving. Higgins said she was unhappy with the way Spurwink's investigation was handled and filed a complaint with them.

Because of Spurwink's patient confidentiality policy, a representative said Thursday that they could not offer any comment.

Nick Higgins and Presby have regular visitation with both children today, she said.

According to one of the documents Lilley attached, filed in Skowhegan District Court in September of 2011, the protection from abuse petition against Presby was dismissed. The document states Mellissa Higgins did not have legal counsel at the time she filed the petition, and followed DHHS advice in filing for the protection order. But after obtaining legal counsel, it says Higgins “on his advice dismissed the petition.” In the document, Presby is requesting her attorney fees of $2,500 be paid, which was denied.

Claims of retaliation

In his letter, Lilley once again repeats claims he made last month that Kennebunk Police went after his client as “retaliation” for Strong investigating the department.

“This matter was apparently never brought to your attention otherwise a suspension would have been expected to have occurred from the Kennebunk police department, especially since the alleged incident appears to have occurred in the town of Kennebunk,” Lilley wrote. “This is the reason my client, Mark Strong, suspects that the Kennebunk police charging him was in retaliation for his getting too close to facts surrounding the Kennebunk Police department's unprofessionalism.”

In a release issued late Thursday in response to Lilley's letter, the Kennebunk Police Department said “all matters identified in the attorney's letter were properly and timely referred to the Maine State Police and the Maine DHHS for investigation, and no wrong doing by anyone associated with the Kennebunk Police Department was found.”

In his letter, Lilley says Presby “should be suspended pending an investigation by an independent investigating agency, not police investigating police.”

“This hypocrisy and selective and retaliatory law enforcement must stop,” he says. “Officer Audra Presby should not be investigating sex crimes against my client or anyone else until these serious matters within the department are resolved. If a single woman having sex with a married man is a law enforcement concern, then start with Officers Presby and Lt. Higgins. And sadly add the accusations of a 5 year old boy of sexual abuse.”

Mellissa Higgins said at no time has she ever had contact with Mark Strong, but said she was contacted recently by Lilley, who asked her questions about the case. She said she told him little, just that all records were public.

Strong is facing 58 counts, including promotion of prostitution and violation of privacy, while Wright is facing 106 counts, from engaging in prostitution to tax evasion. Police say the two ran a prostitution operation out of Wright's former Kennebunk Zumba studio and a nearby office space for more than a year-and-a-half, conspiring to tape her sexual encounters with clients without their knowledge.

In mid-October, Strong issued a release to the press claiming that the charges filed against him are the result of “retaliation” by the Kennebunk Police Department. Strong reasserted an earlier claim that, as a private investigator, he “conducted an investigation on Ms. Wright's behalf because of concerns she had that the Kennebunk Police Department was harassing her.”

In the course of the investigation, Strong said he uncovered unprofessional conduct at the department including an affair between Presby and Higgins.

Police say Higgins stepped down from his position and Presby was issued a reprimand, a matter of public record at the time. The incident, they said, had nothing to do with the prostitution investigation.

Strong said his arrest and the police confiscation of his home computers – where he said the results of his probe of the police department were stored – were done in “retaliation” for his investigation.

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